An hour before kickoff, Jim Popp was walking up the sideline at Tim Hortons Field in a navy polo and a pair of khaki pants. He stopped at the 43-yard line, near the Toronto Argonauts’ bench, and he yanked his waistband northward.

He was not wearing a belt.

“Hell,” he said, “I don’t even have a belt that fits.”

Popp had lost 45 pounds in only 83 days, since the moment in training camp that he decided he was tired of having his clothes feel too tight. He was already a pescetarian — it had been two-and-a-half years since his last bite of red meat — and he eliminated soft drinks back in university.

Now, there would be no more late-night pizza, and no more of his beloved M&Ms, in either standard or peanut form. He also cut out fruit to reduce his sugar intake and resolved to avoid sweets despite all of the daily stresses that might make them appealing for the general manager of a struggling football...